Friday, November 9, 2018

“'real change begins' when women refuse 'to let anyone shut them up or stand in their way'”

"In a campaign cycle where record numbers of female candidates sought elected office, women picked up a handful of seats on Beacon Hill to boost their representation in the Legislature to new high of 28.5 percent.

The 46 women elected to the Massachusetts House on Thursday appears to be a record level, surpassing the 42 who served in that branch in 1999, according to historical figures from the Center for American Women in Politics. Eleven women, meanwhile, were elected to Senate seats, falling short of the high-water mark of 13 female senators reached for a time in 2013 and again in 2017.

Between the two branches, women are set to hold 57 of 200 seats in the 191st General Court, up from the 52 they held at the start of this session in 2017. Fifty-two -- or 26 percent -- was the previous high point reached in 2009, 2003, 2000 and 1999.

Women accounted for 51.5 percent of the Massachusetts population in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey, but competed for seats in less than half of the 200 legislative races that were decided on Tuesday."